Gay Neck: The Story of a Piegeon - 1928 Newbery Winner

I am not a fan of birds. I believe without a doubt that if they (en masse) decided to turn on us (Hitchcock style) they would win. Pigeons in particular are not a favorite. Everyone has at least one irrational fear and this is mine – don’t judge me! And so this was the situation as I approached this next installment in my Newbery challenge. After some dismal reads I was dreading this one quite a bit – a story about a carrier pigeon…really? So, I’m actually delighted to say that this actually reinvigorated my commitment to the Newbery project. This is the kind of book that makes this reading project completely worth it. I would never choose to read this book on my own and, while it’s certainly not a favorite, I feel like I gained a lot by reading it. I felt truly transported to a different time, place and way of thinking.

Summary:

This is the story of Gay-Neck (Chitra Givra) so named for his lovely iridescent colored throat. He is hatched, raised and trained in India by his young master (also our unnamed narrator). Through his story we learn a little about the inner lives of pigeons and their work as carriers (along with some tidbits about Indian culture and Buddhist thought). Gay-Neck’s adventures and misadventures are many and varied – he loses both parents in fairly quick succession, learns to evade predators and even serves in World War I delivering important messages through war torn skies. He is, understandably, traumatized by many of these events – particularly the latter. However, it’s not all just pain and misery for Gay-Neck. The unflagging care and respect he receives from his young master (and others) gives him a sense of purpose and security in life.

The good:

Mukerji’s writing style quite unique – lyrical and full of lovely observations and nuggets of wisdom about man and nature. The guiding theme of the entire book seems to concern the role fear plays in our lives – basically that we are never truly our own masters while fear exists in our hearts. This is certainly not a unique concept, but it’s nicely demonstrated here. He also never lets us forget that the line between man and animal is negligible.

The not so good:

I still won’t be taking up training pigeons or even feeding the birds (Mary Poppins style) any time soon! It’s not *that* good of a book! Like most of the Newbery winners from the 1920s I just can’t imagine this holding much appeal for a modern child. The narrative is too distanced and vague, I think, to capture a child’s heart and mind.

My conclusion:

I found this personally enjoyable, but I still wouldn’t read it to my own kid or really recommend it to anyone I know.

Interesting Tidbits:

The author Dhan Gopal Mukerji was born in Calcutta and moved to America in his 20s as a bit of a political exile. It is said that he felt very isolated and marginalized as an Indian living in America and it’s possible he wrote about India as a means to both foster understanding and also as an outlet for his homesickness. Sadly, he hung himself in 1936. This is all interesting to note as a sense of melancholy and anxiety is pervasive in this story. I don't get the sense that Mukerji thought much of his fellow man.